Wire-cutter



(No Model.)

A.K.RAEUTER.

WIRE CUTTER.

No. 441,309. Patented Nov. 2-5, 1890.

UNITED STATES FFICE.

AUGUST KRAEUTER, OF NEVARK, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN J. TOIVER, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV YORK.

WIRE-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,309, dated November 25, 1890.

Application filed May 26. 1890. Serial No. 353,131. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUST KRAEUTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in ire-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

Pliers or pinchers have heretofore been made in which there are two circular or nearly circular cutters facing each other, around the circular joint upon which the lever-handles of the pliers swing, and these circular cutters are connected, respectively, with the handles in order that when the pliers are closed the face of one cutter may be turned upon the other, and there are notches in the opposite edges of these cutters which coincide when the pliers are opened, so that the wire to be cut may be introduced into the notches of the cutters and separated as the pliers are closed. A combined wire-cutter and pliers of the aforesaid general character is represented in Letters Patent No. 299,033, granted May 20, 1884. In wire-cutters of this general character a difficulty has been experienced in applying a stop to limit the opening movement of the pliers at a place where the notches in the respective cutters will coincide, because there is nothing in the wire-cutter of this character to prevent the pliers being opened until the notches in the wire-cutting disks pass across and clear of each other and so close the openings intended for the reception of the wire, and in the manufacture of this class of tools I have found great difficulty in locating a stop in such a manner or place as to avoid interfering with the movements of the respective parts and to prevent weakening the jaws of the tool.

The present improvement relates to a peculiarly-constructed stop applied to and combined with the jaws of the pliers and the wirecutting disks, such stop determining the point to which the handles of the pliers can be opened, so that the notchesqof the wire-cutting grooves will coincide for the reception of the wire to be cut and the stop will not interfere with the closing of the pliers nor be liable to injure the hands of the workman and the strength of the tool will not be lessened by a portion of the jaw being cut away in forming one side of the stop.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the tool with the improved stop upon the same, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation representing the wire-cutter and the stop for the jaws. The handles A and B are pivoted together upon the bolt O, and the handle A is provided with a jaw D and the handle B with a jaw E, there being a disk-formed joint-piece 2 between the jaw D and the handle A and a similar disk-formed joint-piece between the jaw E and the handle B, the pivot bolt or screw O passing through the center of such diskformed joints, and the cutters F and G face each other and are received into recesses in the respective joint-pieces 2 and 3, and the bolt O passes through them the same, or nearly so, as in the aforesaid patent and in wire-cutters of this general description.

The outer edges of the disk-formed jointpieces and of the cutters are notched, as represented at 5 and 6, and when the jaws of the pliers are opened these notches come into line or coincide with each other, so that a Wire may be laid into the notches on either side of the tool and cut off by closing the handles to the tool; but, as before mentioned, difficulty has arisen in stopping the movements of the handles at such a point that the notches 5 and. 6 will be properly in line with each other, there ordinarily being nothingto prevent the movement being continued until the notches pass by each other and the opening for the wire is closed.

It will be observed that the jaws of the pliers are as wide as the thickness of thedisk-formed joint-pieces and the cutters, and that one jaw is formed with and receives its motion from one of the disk-formed jointpieces 2 and the other from the opposite diskformed j oint-piece. Hence portions of the jaws and handles lap past or are adjacent to the edges of the disk-formed joint-pieces. I therefore remove a portion of the lapping joint of either the jaw, as shown at S, or the handle, as shown at 9, or both, to form a radial or nearly radial edge, and uponthe periphery of one of the disk-formed joint-pieces a projection 11 is formed adjacent to one of the notches 5 or 6 and in such position to the edge 8 or 9 that when the tool is opened the projection 11 will strike against the edge 8 or 9 or, if there are two projections, against both edges, and thereby limit the opening movement of the handles at a point where the notches 5 and 6 will be in line and ready for the reception of the wire to be cut, and in practice I find that this is a great convenience that practically increases the usefulness of tools of this character.

I do not broadly claim stops for limiting the opening or the closing movement of jaws or cutters, as these are frequently provided upon scissors, nippers, and other tools.

I claim as my invention The Wire-cutting tool, composed of jaws, lever-handles, and disk-formed pieces uniting the jaws and handles, a pivot upon which the parts move, cutters connected with the disk-formed pieces, said cutters and diskformed pieces being notched for the passage of the wire, one of the overhanging portions of the jaw or lever adjacent to the diskforlned joint-piece being removed to formv a stop, and a projection upon the adjacent edge of the disk-formed joint-piece to come into contact with such stop to arrest the opening movement of the tool at the time the notches of the wire-cutter are in line with each other, 0

substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 22d day of May, 1890. 1 AUGUST KRAEUTER. Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINcKNEY, WILLIAM G. M OTT. 

